Mechanical pencil with lead sharpening means



May 9, 1950 R. w. BRIDGES ETAI.

MECHANICAL PENCIL WITH LEAD sIIARPENINC MEANS Filed Dec. l1, 1945 V [7 :IESE:ESS:

INVENTDRS RICHARD w. BRIDGES N E s N E J M D CR m 0 H Patented May 9, 1950 UNITED MECHANICAL PENCIL WITH LEAD SHARPENING MEANS Richard W. Bridges, Farmingdale, and Howard M. Jensen, Halesite, N. Y.

Application December 11, 1945, Serial No. 634,172

I 8 Claims. I

This invention relates to a pencil.

An object of the invention is to provide a mechanically operated pencil which includes means for sharpening the lead.

A further object of the invention resides in so constructing the pencil that the length of the point of the lead produced by the sharpener may be varied at the will of the user.

A still further object lies in the provision of means for automatically cleaning the Sharpener after the sharpening operation.

With these and other objects in View the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts illustrated in the drawing, de-

scribed in the specification and recited in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure l is an elevation of a pencil constructed in accordance with the invention, parts thereof being broken away;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View showing the parts assembled as in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the parts in the position that they will occupy when the Sharpener is in use;

Figure 4 is an elevation, partly broken away, of the pencil with the parts in the positions shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5--5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-9 of Figure 2;

Figure 7 is a section on the line 'l-l of Figure 2; and

Figure 8 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view.

Referring, now, to the drawings the embodiment of the invention illustrated includes a barrel I that is open at one end as at 2. This barrel is preferably cylindrical with gripping serrations 3, but it, of course, may for at least a portion of its length be of other cross sectional congura- 2 on its end. This tube I I is rigid with the web 8 and thus with the barrel I.

An operating tube I3 is mounted within the barrel I and is provided with a screw threaded head I4 on one of its ends, which is the upper end when the pencil is in the position shown in Figures 1 through 4 of the drawing, which head engages complementary threads I5 on the inside of the barrel I. On the opposite end of the operating tube I 3 a cam I6 is provided, which cam is adapted to cooperate with the lead holding chuck and the pencil end member 6 to secure the lead in operative position.

Thus it is evident that the pencil lead may be gripped or released.

A hollow cylindrical cutter I'I is rigidly mounted within the cutter casing 5 and is capable of rotating therewith. This cutter is provided with helical cutter blades I8, each of which extends preferably for degrees, and throughout the vertical extent of the cutter, although they may extend to a greater or lesser extent, and the pitch thereof may be varied.

A gear member I9 is rigidly mounted on the operating tube I 3 and is located within the sleeve 4. The teeth 29 of this gear I9 are helical and of the same pitch as the cutter blades I8. The gear I9 is constructed and arranged in such manner that the teeth 2U thereof and the cutter blades I8 will interengage when the gear and cutter are aligned transversely, as shown in Figure 8.

However, it will be noted that the gear teeth 29 engage the cutter blades I8 in such manner that the edges of said blades will be free of engagement with the gear teeth as shown at 2I in Figures 7 and 8, this being accomplished by making the gear teeth deeper than the cutter bladesso that the former will engage the latter as at 22.

It will be noted that the inner end of the sleeve 4 is provided with a ange 23 that is engageable with the gear I9 to limit the movement of the sleeve 4 away from the barrel I as shown in Figure 3.

The parts of the pencil are in the relationship shown in the Figure 2 when the pencil is assembled for writing. In this condition the barrel I and the sleeve 4 are in telescopic engaged condition, and the gear teeth of the gear I9 are engaged with the cutter blades I8 adjacent the lower end of the cutter.

When it is desired to sharpen the point of the pencil lead, the sleeve 4 is withdrawn from the barrel I. This withdrawal is accomplished by rotating the barrel and sleeve relative to each other. In this rotation the gear I9 will pass out of engagement with the blades of the cutter and the engagement of the flange 23 of the sleeve 4 will limit the separation of the sleeve 4 and barrel l. It will also support the sleeve, the cutter housing, the cutter and the pencil end member so that they may be moved as a unit with a substantially universal movement at the point where the sleeve is supported by the gear.

When thus supported the sleeve and cutter, together with their associated parts, may be swung to an angle from the longitudinal axis of the barrel, and thus the cutter caused to engage -the end portion of the pencil lead that it is desired to sharpen. The rotation of the cutter while in engagement with the pencil lead, as shown in Figure 2, will, because of the form of the cutter blades, sharpen the pencil lead to the desired point.

It is obvious that the cutter axis may be swung to a greater or lesser angle with the longitudinal axis of the barrel L Thus the operator may cause a long, short or intermediate point to be cut on the pencil lead.

When it is desired to reassemble the parts of the pencil to writing condition after the lead has been sharpened, the sleeve Il is pushed inwardly into the barrel l, until the gear I9 engages with the cutter blades, whereupon relative rotation between the sleeve and barrel caused by such interengagement will Ycause the barrel and sleeve to be completely telescoped.

During the sharpening operation, much of the lead powder that results from the sharpening will fall from the opening 'l in the pencil end member 6. However, as the gear I9 and the cutter move relatively from their point of original engagement to the position shown in Figure 2, the gear teeth free the cutter teeth of the remainder of the lead powder, thus preparing the cutter for a subsequent sharpening operation.

While the barrel and sleeve will be maintained in their telescoped engagement by friction between the two, the engagement of the gear and cutter will insure against accidental disengagement.

While a particular form of the invention has been described, many changes in the details of construction may be made within the scope of the claims.

We claim:

l. In a pencil. a barrel, a sleeve slidablf,r and rotatably mounted in eaid barrel and constructed and arranged to telescope with said barrel and to extend therefrom, means for limiting the movevment of the sleeve away from said barrel and 'for supporting the sleeve for universal movement,

and a cutter carried by said sleeve, said cutter including a. plurality of helical blades, said means including a gear having teeth complemental to said cutter blades and arranged in the path of movement of the cutter when the sleeve is moved into telescopic relation to the barrel whereby the cutter blades will be cleaned during such movement.

2. In a pencil, a barrel, a sleeve slidably and i rotatably mounted in said barrel and constructed and arranged to telescope with said barrel and to extend therefrom, an operating tube within and having screw threaded engagement with said barrel and extending into `said sleeve, a helical toothed gear secured to said tube and located in said sleeve, a hollow cylindrical cutter carried by said sleeve and having cutter blades complemental to the helical teeth of said gear, said sleeve being constructed and arranged to be withdrawn CII from said barrel, and means on said sleeve to support the same on said gear for universal movement.

3. In a pencil, a barrel, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted in said barrel and constructed and arranged to telescope with said barrel and to extend therefrom, an operating tube within and having screw threaded engagement with said barrel and extending into said sleeve, a helical toothed gear secured to said tube and located in said sleeve, a hollow cylindrical cutter carried by said sleeve and having cutter blades complemental to the helical teeth of said gear, said sleeve being constructed and arranged to be withdrawn from said barrel, and means on said sleeve to support the same on said gear for universal movement, said gear and said cutter being constructed and arranged to interengage when said barrel and said sleeve are in interengaged relation.

4. In a pencil, a barrel, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted in said barrel and constructed and arranged to telescope with said barrel and to extend therefrom, an operating tube within and having screw threaded engagement with said barrel and extending into said sleeve, a helical toothed gear secured to said tube and located in said sleeve, a hollow cylindrical cutter carried by said sleeve and having cutter blades complemental to the helical teeth of said gear, said sleeve being constructed and arranged to be withdrawn from said barrel, and means on said sleeve to support the same on said gear for universal movement, said gear and said cutter being constructed and arranged to interengage when said barrel and said sleeve are in interengaged relation, and said gear being constructed and arranged to pass through said cutter with the teeth of the gear and the cutter in engagement when the sleeve and barrel are moved to telescopic relation.

5. In a pencil, a barrel, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted in said barrel and constructed and arranged to telescope with said barrel and to extend therefrom, means for limiting the telescopic movement of said sleeve and for supporting said sleeve for universal movement, a plurality of cutter edges disposed within said sleeve, a cleaning member supported by said barrel and located within said sleeve for movement relative thereto and having Vcleaning elements constructed and arranged to enter said cutter between the cutter edges thereof, whereby the cutter will be cleaned when said sleeve is moved in a telescopic relation to said barrel.

6. In a pencil, a barrel, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted in said barrel and constructed and arranged to telescope with said barrel and to extend therefrom, means for limiting the telescopic movement of said sleeve and for supporting said sleeve for universal movement, a cutter rigidly mounted on and within said sleeve, and a cutter cleaner rigidly mounted on said barrel, said cutter comprising threadlike elements having their cutting ridges arranged helcally and forming cutter edges and having their intervening faces arranged helically and said cutter cleaner having teeth members complemental to said threadlike members of said cutter and arranged in the path of movement of and to pass through said cutter when said sleeve is moved telescopically into said barrel whereby said cutter is cleaned and said sleeve is rotated.

'7. In a pencil, a barrel, a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted in said barrel and constructed and arranged to telescope with said barrel and to extend therefrom, means for limiting the telescopic movement of said sleeve and for supporting said sleeve for universal movement, a cutter rigidly mounted on and Within said sleeve, and a cutter cleaner rigidly mounted on said barrel, said cutter comprising threadlike elements having their cutting ridges arranged helically and forming cutter edges and having their intervening faces arranged helically and said cutter ment of the sleeve away from said barrel and for supporting the sleeve for universal movement, a cutter mounted within said sleeve and comprising a plurality of cutter edges arranged helically within said sleeve, and a cutter cleaner mounted on said barrel and having a projection constructed and arranged to enter between and pass through the space between said cutter edges to clean said cutter.

HOWARD M. JENSEN.

RICHARD W'. BRIDGES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,256,383 Simmons Feb. 12, 1918 1,780,581 Dillier Nov. 4, 1930 

